Richard J. Goossen

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E-Preneur

The new virtual marketplace has arrived. Opportunities abound and billions of pounds are springing into existence, from YouTube and MySpace to Facebook and Google. This is the age of e-Preneurs - those individuals who combine entrepreneurial skills with Web 2.0 savvy. Web 1.0 was an information highway, but Web 2.0 is all about social networking, community building, global interactivity and mass collaboration. And, after learning from the fateful dot.com bust, the stock-market's are on the bandwagon - again. So what's the next big thing? The crowd-based creative fire that Wikipedia sparked has caught on beyond anyone's projections and the effect is increasing daily. The term “wiki” - a collaborative Website that can be edited by users - is increasingly part of modern vocabulary; the online crowd is becoming unstoppable. Tapping into this vast resource of wisdom and power goes under various names, such as crowd clout, crowd-sourcing and crowd power. Today, the power of the crowd is used for everything from swapping photos, designing shoes, discovering pharmaceuticals and developing software. In coming years, however, this global mass of humanity huddled around computers will shape policies, assist companies and even affect countries as never before. That's where crowdpreneurs come in. People who utilize crowd power for the pursuit of innovation in the new virtual marketplace, crowdpreneurs are the entrepreneurial leaders of the online age.